Current Saints chairman Ralph Krueger last night promised the club's supporters that Schneiderlin as well as Jay Rodriguez would not be leaving to link up with former manager Mauricio Pochettino at Tottenham.

But Lowe, who brought the France midfielder to the club in 2008, says Krueger is facing a losing battle in his attempts to keep Schneiderlin.

"The clubs don't have the power they should have to control the situation," Lowe told talkSPORT.

"The power lies with the players since the Bosman [ruling] and also the managers."

He added: "He's a fantastic player, he's a fantastic person and when we signed him from Strasbourg I was amazed we were able to do that.

"I was expecting to be competing with clubs like Arsenal because I personally think he is the probably best midfielder in English football at the moment.

"I have huge admiration for him. I hope he stays at Southampton but, at the end of the day, if a bigger club comes in for him most players see that as a promotion, a bigger salary, and it is very difficult to keep them."

Sources close to Schneiderlin claim that he told Saints officials yesterday that he wants to quit the club and even took to his official Twitter account to express his anger at their stance.

"Six years of an amazing journey' at the club had been 'DESTROYED in one hour," his tweet read.

Southampton have already banked over £90m through the sales of Rickie Lambert, Adam Lallana, Luke Shaw, Dejan Lovren and Calum Chambers leaving new manager Ronald Koeman with little remnants of the side that finished the previous campaign under Pochettino.

The sales of both Schneiderlin and Rodriguez would push that figure past the £130m mark, but, with the start of the new season only three weeks away, many of the club's fans are worried Koeman could walk.

But Krueger rejected the possibility of the Dutchman leaving only weeks after joining.

"He wants to be with us and us with us for the right reasons. He understands what we need to do and has been extremely patient," he said.

"Ronald is a key piece in the puzzle of keeping us on the same level."